Moink Balls

The perfect combination of pork, beef, and seasoning cooked in cherry smoke, these Moink Balls are packed with flavor and are the perfect appetizer, snack, or entree. Easy to make and delicious. You must give these a try.

Why are they called Moink Balls?

Moo! Oink! Moink! I would ask my wife "why are you not laughing?" She would answer, "Because it's not funny". Welcome to the story of my life.....But it is that simple. If you are here reading this, you either came looking for these or saw the name and couldn't resist the curiosity. Most recipes will call for beef meatballs wrapped in bacon. I wanted to have some fun combining ground beef and ground pork in a larger ball to allow for a longer smoke.

Combinations of pork and beef in meatballs are very common and this is just playing on the name. Using this tasty combination of beef and pork along with great fat to get a large moist meatball that can hold up to a multihour cook on the smoker or pellet grill to really develop a beautiful bark and smoke ring. Serve them with your favorite sweet bbq sauce and a simple side for an easy meal.

Ingredients for Smoked Moink Balls Recipe

Beef - Ground beef gives us the Moo! You will need about a pound of beef. Get some nice fat marbling it in if you are grinding it yourself or about 85% lean if you are purchasing it from the butcher.

Pork - Ground pork gives us the Oink! Equal parts of pork to beef here. Pork on the smoker has such great flavor. As I mentioned, many Moink Ball recipes will lean on bacon for the pork portion, here we are using the ground pork to represent the Oink.

Bread - This is to help grab some of the moisture from egg and milk and serve as a binder for the meatball. These are going to be big balls. We are trying to have a long smoke without completely drying these out. You can use ripped-up bread slices or even seasoned breadcrumbs.

Milk and Egg - Two classic binders for meatballs. They help form a glue to hold all of it together. 

Onion - My favorite vegetable to add into meatballs and burgers. They cook well in the meat and as they cook and breakdown, the juice from the onion helps to add another level of flavor to the meat.

Salt and Black Pepper - Well seasoned food is key. You will use about 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of meat. 

Instructions to make MOINK Balls

Step One: In a large bowl combine all ingredients. Use your hands to incorporate all ingredients together. Take the meat mixture and form it into round balls about 3 inches in diameter. 

Cooking Tip: When making large meatballs, there is a chance they can start to fall through and mold around the grill grates. Start them in a disposable pan that you cut large holes in to allow the smoked to enter through the bottom as well as the top. Once they start to firm up(about 30 minutes), remove the tray and then return the Moinks directly to the smoker grate to finish cooking.

Step Two: Preheat your smoker or pellet or gas grills. The key on this will be to cook them at a low temperature for as long as we can without drying them out. I choose cherry wood pellets for this cook in my Traeger Grill. Preheat the grill to 225°F. Place the Moink Balls into the preheated smoker and smoke for about 90 minutes or until the internal temp reaches 160 degrees F. If you are looking to cover these in barbecue sauce, you can start basting them at about the hour mark. 

Step Three: Remove the Moinks from the smoker and let rest on a tray for about five minutes before serving. Cover them with your favorite condiments to serve. Our favorites are sweet or spicy bbq sauce and grated cheddar. Serve them with your favorite side dishes.

Side Dishes for Moink Balls

If you have the smoker running for 90 minutes or more, here are some great sides that will match up closely with the cooking time to all finish together for an easy BBQ Meal. Smoked Mac and Cheese have the perfect combination of smoky and creamy. Smoked Baked Potatoes are as easy as it gets for a delicious side. If you are going low carb, Smoked Cauliflower is a hearty side to enjoy with these Moink Balls.

Other Great Recipes

If you are looking for some other favorite Smoked Beef recipes, please try Smoked Meatloaf covered in bacon slices, our Smoked Burgers, or our Brisket recipe. These recipes are great and easy with you use a charcoal smoker, a pellet smoker, or a stick burner. There is something delicious about the flavoring smoke that provides indirect cooking to perfection. I love the flavor we get off the smoker.

If you are looking for little bites, try our other version of Smoked Meatballs recipe wrapped in salty bacon strips with a sweet bbq sauce. These bacon wrapped meatballs are cooked to perfection. After that, we have Bison Meatballs!